Manufacture of pressed brake shoes



June 23, 1931.

L. P. MOOERS 1,810,923

MANUFACTURE OF PRESSED BRAKE SHOES Filed Aug. 31, 1927 IN VEN TOR.

uQazu'a P/Vooens. BY

A TTORNEYS,

' Patented June 23, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOUIS P. MOOERS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE COLUMBIA AXLE COMPANY,

I O1 CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO MANUFACTURE OF PRESSED BRAKE SHOES Application filed August 31, 1927. Serial No. 216,617.

The present invention, relating as indicated to the manufacture of pressed brake shoes, is articularly directed to a simple and improved method of manufacturing shoes, for use in brakes and self-propelled vehicles, of pressed steel or similar material, and consists, briefly stated, first in the formation of suitable individual pieces, then in the assembly and rigid uniting of such pieces to produce the shoe of pressed sheet metal of the desired form. The principal object of the invention is the provision of an improved method for maklng a cheap, light and extremely strong brake shoe.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim; the annexed drawings and the following description setting forth'in detail. one method and one product exemplifying my invention, such disclosed procedure and product const tuting, however, but one of various applications of the principle of my invention.

In said annexed drawings r Fig. 1 is a side elevation of two complementary brake shoes manufactured by my improved method; Fig. 2 is a plan view of a rectangular blank from which the arcuate shaped initial blank may be formed; Fig. 3 is a view of an individual element after the forming; Fig. 4 is a transverse central section illustrating one method of assembly and uniting of the individual members; Fig. 5 is a similar view showing a second method.

In Fig. 1 I have shown two complementary brake shoe members 1 and 2 assembled as they would be within a brake drum for operation, these two shoes being the so-called internal expanding type. Each of the two shoes is provided with a recess 3 at one end adapting it to be engaged and anchored about a suitable anchor pin 4, which may also serve as an adjusting means of any desired type, the adjusting means not being shown. At the other end each of the shoes 1 and 2 is pro vided with a flange 5 extendin transversely across the end and adapted to e engaged by means of an oscillating cam 6 carried on the end of an oscillating operating shaft 7 Oscillation of the shaft 7 will cause the two lower ends of the shoes to be spread apart, expanding the brake elements about the axis 4 outwardly and into engagement with the surrounding drum (not shown). Springs 8, engaged in suitable slots formed in the shoes, serve to return the shoes to their normal or inoperative position and to maintain the ends 5 in contact with the cam 6.

My improved method of manufacture of complementary brake shoe elements consists in first taking a rectangular blank 10 of rolled or pressed sheet metal and cutting therefrom an arcuate blank 11 provided with a substantially semi-cylindrical outer surface 12 and a curved inner surface 13. The width of the blank 11 will preferably taper from a maximum at the center 14 to a minimum at the two ends, thus providing increased stilfness and rigidity at the point where it is most needed between the ends of the shoe.

The arcuate blank 11 is then placed in a press and is formed into a channel shaped strip as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. This strip is provided with a substantially semi-cylindrical portion 19 and a web 18 at substantially right-angles to the portion 19. The strip also has an inner flange 20 substantially parallel with the outer flange 19, but of materially less width (see Figs. 4 and 5), the flanges 19 and 20 are joined at the end of the brake shoe by small flatsurfaces 5 and 24 which results in a continuous flange. In order to rotate the upper part of the shoe around a pin 4 the flange 24 is recessed at 3. The lower flange 5 is at right angles to upper flange 19, lower flange 20 and web 18, and forms a flat cam engaging surface of substantial area. In this manner the pin 4 and cam 6 coact with a large surface, and since this coaction takes place with every application of the brake it will be obvious that the large'surface will materially aid in reducing wear. In most of the devices of the prior art the pin and cam engage a cross section of the shoe web only, that is, a width of approximately one-fourth of an inch. In my improved device this surface has been increased to at least two inches and greater in some cases, depending upon the particular job.

Thus it will be seen that I have produced a brake shoe which meets the most rigid requirements of automobile manufacturers. The three outstanding desirable characteristics of every part of an automobile are low cost, strength and lightness. The fact that my improved brake shoe is produced in two operations, pressing the channel member being one and uniting two of such members being the other, is ample proof of low cost. The particular shape which I have designed gives strength since the largest portion of the outer flange 19 is directly located at the point of greatest wear. This has the added function of producing lightness as the flange 19 tapers as it approaches the ends 5 and 24.

I next assemble two of such channel-shaped blanks with their webs in contact, as shown I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as-my invention In a method of making two piece steel pressed brake shoes, the steps which consist in forming arcuate plates having a width tapering from a maximum at the center to a. minimum at the ends, bending said plates into channel members havingk continuous flanges of unequal width, and aving a flat cam en aging surface at one end and a recessed ifat pin engaging surface at the other, assembling two of said strips back to back to form a member of I sectlon and then integrally uniting said strips.

Signed by me, this 30th day of August,

LOUIS P. MOOERS.

in Figs. 4 and 5, in which position the outer cylindrical flanges 19 (of Fig. 3), lie in substantially the same plane and conjointly form a relatively smooth semi-cylindrical surface for the reception and attachment of any suitable brake lining 21, which may be riveted or otherwise secured to these flanges as desired. The webs 18 (of Figs. 3 and 4), are then rigidly secured together either by means of rivets 22 or by having these webs integrally united as by spot welding at the points 23 (see Fig. 5), or in any other suitable manner, which Will rigidly secure together the two engaging webs and unite them in a substantially rigid support and reinforcement for the outer semi-cylindrical portion of the composite element. In forming the blank 11 into the arcuate shaped strip of Fig. 3 the outer port-ion of the blank which is formed into the flange 19 is continued around one end to form the cam-engaging plate 5 and around the other end to form the recessed flange 24 for engagement with the anchor pins 4.

The present method presents an economical and simple means for forming pressed steel shoes of extremely light weight and high strength from sheets andof assembling the individual units of the shoes into complete composite shoes of I section. I have used shoes manufactured by this method and have found the same to be entirely rigid in operation and lighter and more economical to manufacture than shoes either of cast iron or of cast aluminum, and by utilizing the present method of making brake shoes a very considerable saving in the manufacturin cost has been effected.

%)ther forms may be employed embodying the features of my invention instead of the one here explained, change being'made in the form or construction, provided the elements "stated by the following claim or the equivalent of such stated elements be employed,

whether produced by my preferred method or by others embodying steps equivalent to those stated in the following claim. 

